Megaworld
Corp., the second-biggest property developer, said Monday net profit in the
first six months of the year rose 15 percent to P4.25 billion from P3.69
billion year-on-year, on strong sales from residential projects.

Megaworld
said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-half revenues grew 12 percent
to P17.28 billion from P15.43 billion on year.

Megaworld,
along with subsidiaries Empire East Land Holdings Inc. and Suntrust Properties
Inc., registered P38 billion in reservation sales in the six-month period, up
27 percent from first half 2012 level.

“We see
continued significant growth in the Philippine property sector, especially in
the residential, commercial and office segments due to… strong macroeconomic
fundamentals, the continued influx of [workers’] remittances and a strong
consumer sector,” Megaworld chairman and chief executive Andrew Tan said.

Tan said the
company was on track to hit the P70-billion reservation sales target for the
whole of 2013 given the company’s first-half performance.

The property
company plans to launch 25 residential projects in 2013, including 12,000
condominium units.

Megaworld
unveiled 14 projects in the first half of the year, while middle-income housing
unit Empire East introduced five residential towers. Suntrust Properties, which
is developing affordable housing projects, rolled out two projects during the
period.

Rental income
from office and retail developments, meanwhile, rose 25 percent in the first
half of the year to P2.83 billion from P2.26 billion.

“We will
continue to build more office developments and lifestyle malls to support the
growing demands of the BPO industry and retail consumers. This will enable us
to achieve another record year for our rental income,” Tan said.

Megaworld
plans to build over 500,000 square meters of office space in its portfolio by
the end of the year.

Shareholders
last month approved an increase in the company’s capital stock by P10 billion,
consisting of 10 billion shares.

Parent
Alliance Global Group Inc. is subscribing 2.5 billion shares at a price of
P4.29 apiece for a total of P10.725 billion.

The
subscription to additional shares will increase Alliance Global’s stake in
Megaworld to 67 percent from the current 63 percent.